We All Fall Down
by ThomE.Gemcity-06
Summary: TAG: S6E01 - "I'll Remember" & S6E02 - "Yellow Ledbetter" / Everyone was focused on getting Damon and Bonnie back, and bringing down the magic barrier around Mystic Falls, no one noticed that it wasn't them or Elena that needed help, but then, Stefan only ever answered the phone when Alaric called him. [extended summary inside]


**a/n: I actually came up with this concept December 21, 2017. I know you're giving your screen a look in lieu of me for knowing the exact date, but it's in my notebook and I always date my paper things. Anyway, I was thinking about it and wrote some more stuff for it in a different note book and decided to just type it up because it's on my mind and I'm blocked (again) on "One Thing". **

**This is set in early Season 6.**

**Episode Tags: **  
**S6E01 - "I'll Remember" **  
**S6E02 - "Yellow Ledbetter"**

**Summary: **Everyone was focused on getting Damon and Bonnie back, and bringing down the magic barrier around Mystic Falls, no one noticed that it wasn't them or Elena that needed help, but then, Stefan only ever answered the phone when Alaric called him.

_"That lead you sent me to in Oregon a couple months back, every fibre, every instinct inside me said this was it, that this was the lead that was going to get us Damon and Bonnie back—and it was an empty plot. I searched every inch of it, it took me a weeks, but I did it, and there was no sign of anyone or anything. It was just... empty. And that was when I knew it was useless, hopeless. We were fooling ourselves into thinking there was anything we could do to bring them back. My brother is gone—for good this time."_

**Chapter Includes/WARNING: Post violence, mild gore.**

_**~The Vampire Diaries ~**_

* * *

**We All Fall Down**

The tomes he brought with him to their usual spot at the cafe were weightless thanks to his vampire strength, yet, it felt like they carried a heavy burden so it was only a relief to hand them over to Caroline. Only—

"Alright, what about-"

"I've already read it, too. I've read them all!" Caroline growled in frustration, shoving the occult book back towards him.

Alaric shoved it back in the tote at his feet. "Caroline-"

"I've learned at lot," she said. "From reading all these dusty old tomes for the past four months—a lot of _useless_ information! Is this the bogus crap you've been teaching your students?"

"Hey. _Easy_." Alaric said a little sharply. "I'm not the enemy here."

"No, you're right. You're not. I'm sorry." She sent him an apologetic look. "Just an Anti Magic Bubble."

Alaric sighed. "Sometimes, there just isn't an answer."

"I refuse to believe that." Caroline informed him stubbornly. Then suddenly, wilted: "I miss Stefan." She tore at her napkin. "He never answers my calls." She glanced up at him through her lashes. "Are you sure he's okay?"

He schooled his expression so as not to give away to the blond just how worried he actually was about the younger Salvatore and gave her a sympathetic one instead. "He's just busy, Caroline."

"But he takes your calls," was her petulant response.

"I'm the one sending him out on leads," Alaric reasoned. "And you use his voicemail like your diary."

She scoffed. "He's avoiding me."

"And he's probably avoiding you," He agreed, giving her a little grin.

Caroline flashed him a reluctant smile before it dropped. "If I could just talk to him, I know everything will be okay."

"I'm sorry, Caroline. I don't know what to say."

"It's not your fault—**it's his**."

"Caroline," he admonished, "He's grieving. He lost his brother."

"Don't worry," she gave him a brave smile, "I'll think of something."

"You always do." He agreed. "Now, I gotta go teach some children useless information." He said wryly.

She grimaced. "Sorry."

He was a little surprised when she got up and hugged him before he left, but he was more than happy to return it. "See you later, Caroline."

"Bye," she waved at him, her other had surreptitiously pressed flat against her thigh, obscuring the occult teacher's pickpocketed cell phone.

Caroline waited until she couldn't see him through the cafe windows before she sat back down at their table. She stared at his phone for a long moment on the tabletop, biting her lip before she took a deep breath, picked it up and scrolled through his contact list. Stefan's name was at the top of most recent.

Her heart pounded in her chest as it rang, the din of the other diners falling silent to it, she almost didn't realize the line connected. Her heart soared into her throat when it did and silence hung between them from both sides until she couldn't stand it anymore. She just needed him say her name, to tell her-

"Stefan?" her voice was quiet and she winced at how 'lost little girl' she sounded.

But she flinched at the beep of 'lost connection' in her ear as the line disconnected. She sat in a moment of shock, staring at him name on the screen, mocking her—and it turned into anger! He had the nerve to hang up on her without a word. "Unbelievable!" she exclaimed and made to dial again when a shadow fell across her.

"I agree."

Caroline slowly looked up. There Alaric stood, arms crossed over his chest giving her a very worthy disappointed look. It made her instinctively hunch.

"It's not what it looks like."

"Oh? So, you didn't initiate a hug with me for the sole purpose to steal my phone in the hopes of Stefan picking up your call under the guise of my number?" he raised a brow and held out his hand, waiting.

She gave him back his phone. "No?" She sighed in defeat. "Yes. Sorry, but I'm desperate here, okay? Matt and Jeremy don't even bother to leave the boarders of Mystic Falls anymore, Tyler's reverted to his pre-werewolf anger management ways. And Elena—she's a complete mess over Bonnie but every time I mention Damon I get nothing, it's like he's not even gone. I just-" she felt the sting in her eyes, "I feel like I'm all alone in this, you know?"

Alaric sighed, fiddling with his phone momentarily before slipping it into his pocket. "You're not doing this alone, Caroline. There's actually someone else on his own little crusade to bring Damon and Bonnie back."

Caroline perked up. "Who?" At his expression she grew wary. "_Who_, Ric?" She repeated, determined. Desperate enough for _anyone's_ help right now.

...

"Come on, Stefan, pick up the damn phone!" Alaric uttered under his breath, phone pressed to his ear as he navigated his way through the packed halls toward his lecture room. He cursed as he once again got voicemail. "Stefan, it's Ric. I'm sorry about Caroline, she just wants to hear your voice. I do too, for that matter, man. So, just... pick up, call back. Christ, I'll even accept a text." He sighed heavily, stopping inside his classroom and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Please, just pick one so I can stop worrying and teach my class, damn it!" about to hang up, he stilled momentarily as the line clicked. "Stefan?" he questioned cautiously, dropping his notes onto his desk.

"Yeah." Stefan's hoarse voice came through the connection.

Alaric couldn't held but sigh in relief, sinking into his chair and carding fingers through his hair. He raised his head at the press of material against the mouthpiece, a muffled gag.

"Stefan, you sound... sick. What the hell is going on?" he demanded.

Stefan cleared his throat. "I'm back on animal blood. My body just needs time to adjust again."

"I thought you were doing good on blood bags?"

"I-" Stefan paused. "I just needed the discipline again."

"Did something happen on the last lead?"

Stefan laughed. It was hollow. "Nothing happens, Ric, that's the problem! It's all just so us-!" he cut himself off sharply.

"Maybe you should come home?" Alaric offered gently.

"Home?" Stefan scoffed. "Where's that exactly?"

"Everyone sort of just sort of congregated at Whitmore. Only Matt and Jeremy are in Mystic Falls anymore. Come on, Stefan. We're not out of the fight yet. This isn't giving up—it's just regrouping."

"I-" Alaric waited with bated breath as Stefan seemed to struggle momentarily with himself. "Can't."

Alaric sighed. "Talk to me, Stefan. You gotta talk to somebody. Might as well be me."

"Yeah, seems to be doing a lot of good." He said bitterly. He took a deep breath and released. "But no, she said if someone asked I should tell the truth, even if it was just once. So, here it is. Are you ready, Professor, because I think this will be the last time you'll want to ask that question."

"Who-" he started, but stopped as Stefan started talking again.

"My chest... is hollow. Like my heart is still out there on the cold pavement outside Mystic Falls. It should be Damon here, alive, living his Happily Ever After with Elena. Not me. He was all I had left-"

"He's your brother, Stefan. He did it all for you, to get _you _back." Alaric reminded. "The rest of us: me, Tyler, Enzo... we were just lucky enough to come along for the ride." Silence met him. "Come on, Stefan. Talk to me. Damon wouldn't want you to withdraw—what's Damon going to say when we get him back?"

"He's not going to say anything." Stefan's voice cracked. "It's over, Ric. I can't keep doing this anymore. Damon is dead. Bonnie... The Other Side is gone. **They're gone.**"

"Stefan, I'm serious about you coming back. It clearly isn't doing you any good being out there alone, taking this all on for the rest of us." Alaric tried to reason. "Tell me where you are—I'll pick you up myself."

"I can't do that." Stefan told him softly. "How can I face you all? I'm sorry to put it all on you, Ric. You don't deserve it, but I can't anymore."

Alaric furrowed his brows. "Stef-" he cut off as students started to wander in and take their seats.

"Look. You don't have to worry about me." He said with false spirits. "Teach your class. And don't freak out if I'm not in touch for a bit, okay?" He paused. "Goodbye, Ric."

"No. Stefan, wait!" but the other vampire had already hung up. Alaric cussed. This helpless, desperate feeling pretty much summed up the worry that had been edging into his psyche over the wayward Salvatore.

They were all just hiding, distracting themselves, waiting for Stefan to save the day with his hero hair—to save Damon like he'd always done—that no one let themselves see the cracks, so no one else saw when they turned into chasms. But him, Stefan let _him_ in.

_Damn it_, he really didn't have time to give a lecture right now.

~ _**T V D **_~

Alaric tried not to let his angst translate through his knocks but didn't think he succeeded as the door cautiously opened a crack.

"Hey, Luke."

"Whatever you want, the answer's **no**." Luke tried to shut his dorm door, only for Alaric to stop it with a hand on the edge. "No, of course. 'No' isn't in the vampire vocabulary, so barge in here like all your other friends and make your demands!" he threw up his hands and retreated into his room, carding his fingers roughly through his golden mane. "So, what is it this time?"

Alaric awkwardly stepped into his room and closed the door behind him. He encroached on the witch's space no further than that as Luke paced. "I don't know what you're talking about." He admitted finally.

"Right," Luke scoffed. "I get it, okay? It's my fault Damon got stuck on the Other Side when it collapsed—but I'll be damned if I was just going to stand by and watch my sister kill herself. I'm sorry about your friend, but I'm not sorry about saving my sister. So, make your demands and then leave me alone."

"Hey. Hey." Alaric stepped forward and grasped his shoulders, stopping his pacing. He did not miss the flinch. "I'm not going to hurt you." He released the witch, hands up non-threateningly and stepped back again.

Luke stared at him for a moment, subconsciously rubbing his tender throat. "You're friends don't have the same qualms." He pointed out warily.

"What happened?" Clearly Alaric was missing something, something big.

"You really don't know?"

"No." He answered honestly.

"Elena's been harassing me." Luke admitted carefully, watching the vampire warily and on guard. "For months now." Alaric's brows shot up in surprise and prompted him to continue. "She said I owed her. I really was sorry, so I gave in. I thought it was a onetime thing but she wanted more, threatened me—Liv—if I didn't get her more."

Now Alaric's eyes narrowed. "More of what, exactly?"

"These psychotropic herbs that let her see Damon."

"I'm sorry... _What?"_

"I wanted to help her say goodbye, give her closure, but it's had the opposite effect. It's like she's addicted, obsessed with seeing him even though she knows it's not real."

Alaric closed his eyes briefly. _Christ_, he'd really been dropping the ball. Busy feeding Stefan leads to nowhere, worrying over the brunette's state of mind; finding material for Caroline; keeping an eye on Tyler's hair-trigger; trying to dig Jeremy out of his hole; trying to adjust to being a vampire himself—he should have been paying more attention to Elena.

He sighed. "I'm sorry about Elena. I'll talk to her." He promised. "But for now, don't giver her anymore of these herbs, okay? If she comes demanding more, use me as an excuse if you have to and if that doesn't work... cloak yourself?" Luke huffed at that. "So you know, I don't blame you, Luke. You just wanted to save your sister like Damon wanted to save his brother. Sorry if the others see it different, they're just grieving." He gestured to his right wrist, "And I don't think I ever said thanks for the sunlight bracelet. Thanks, man."

Luke couldn't help but gap at him for a moment. "You're welcome... and thanks, I guess. Is that why you came?"

Alaric grimaced. "Actually, no. I needed a favour."

Luke sighed. "Figures. What is it, then?"

"I was wondering if you- Wait. You said 'friends'. Who else has been threatening you?"

"Enzo stopped by a few hours ago."

"Enzo?" Alaric said in surprise. He was far from a friend. In fact, he didn't even think they'd actually even met properly. "What did he want?"

"A location spell on Stefan."

"Shit." Alaric cursed. He could only think of something bad coming from Enzo wanting Stefan's location and dreaded to think that it was a result of sending Caroline his way.

"So, what was it that you needed?" Luke asked.

"Can you give me Stefan's location?" Alaric asked with some of his returning urgency.

"Yeah. Savannah, Georgia—it's in the middle of the woods. Here." Luke showed him the GPS location on his cell phone.

"Thanks, Luke. I have to take care of this but I'll make sure everyone backs off." Alaric promised, already heading out the door, phone to his ear. Enzo already had a three hour head start. He didn't brother to try the brunette, but instead tried another vampire. "Come on, Caroline, pick up." But he only got her bubbly voicemail instead.

…

A seven hour drive knocked down to five and two compelled patrol officers later, it was passed dark by the time Alaric managed to track down the cabin. He pulled off to the side of Stefan's Porsche and an unfamiliar small pick-up truck.

He turned off the engine and shut his door quietly enough that he didn't even disturb the crickets. He approached the cabin cautiously, already knowing something wasn't right with the shaft of yellow light across the porch from the open front door. Ears pricked, he picked up a single, sluggish heartbeat. He could see signs of a fight before he even got up onto the porch and when he did, he stopped short in the doorway at the sight that greeted him.

Splintered wood of smashed dinning chairs, a shattered lamp, the dinning table balancing a dinner for four precariously on three legs—and at the center of it all, Stefan on his knees in a pool of blood, the dead woman in front of him seemingly unblemished.

"Stefan!" Alaric rushed forward across the threshold. He knelt next to the vampire, ignoring the blood soaking into his jeans. "Stefan, hey." He grasped Stefan's shoulder.

"He killed her." Stefan voice was quiet, devoid. "They thought I was sleeping with her and he killed her. I... I wasn't though." He gave a bitter laugh before hissing in pain. "She was helping me keep it on. I have to keep it on. I-"

"Come on." Alaric said gently, but on the inside he was seething because he already had a very good idea on who the 'he' was. He also didn't think Caroline would be okay with Enzo killing this woman, whoever she was, no matter how angry at Stefan she may be, so now his worry for the blond vampire was gaining credence because she wasn't taking his calls either. "Let's get you up and-"

"Can't." Stefan finally raised his head, slow like it was an effort do so. He was grey, sweat-drenched skin papery thin. His eyes looked like they were frozen at the start of his true-face transforming. "I can't reach the stake."

Alaric shifted and found the source of blood—and where the missing table leg was—embedded in Stefan's spine, his back saturated in blood. "Shit, Stefan!" Alaric exclaimed. "That doesn't look too good."

"Doesn't feel too good either," Stefan pointed out, "I mean, from what I can even feel."

"Christ, how long have you been like this?" The only time he ever saw Stefan looking this... vulnerable. Broken. Was after he was tortured by Fredrick and the other Tomb vampires years ago. It was disconcerting to say the least.

"Boarding on three the longer you continue on this delightful conversation."

"Right, sorry." Alaric uttered. "Uh, here." He shifted closer to the paralysed brunette and with a palm at his nape, carefully pulled his forward to rest against him in both physical and mental support. Stefan made a small sound in the back of his throat at the shift, and Alaric couldn't quite tell if it was pain or something else.

"Well, isn't this cosy." Stefan mocked as Alaric's arm wrapped around his back to grasp the makeshift stake in a simile of a comforting embrace.

"That's right, be an ass to the guy about to yank this piece of wood out of your spine." Alaric wished he could be gentle about it somehow, but it was wedged between his vertebrae.

"Unh!" Stefan gave a cry of pain as he was forced to yank the splintered leg out sharply.

Alaric winced as Stefan reacted instinctively to the pain and sunk his fangs into his shoulder, through jacket and shirt into flesh. He squeezed Stefan's nape, giving him a minute to gather himself. Alaric wondered gently, "Who was she?"

Still taking his weight, Stefan turned his head on Alaric's shoulder, his gaze finding the dead woman beside them. "Ivy. She was an old friend. This is my cabin, but since I rarely use it, I let her stay rent free. She was... was a psych major." He scoffed. "I was the subject of her dissertation."

Alaric's brows shot up. "Did she know you were a vampire?"

"Of course—but to everyone else it's just a part of my delusions. My name was never mentioned and it's not like anyone's going to read it now."

"I'm sorry about your friend, Stefan." Alaric offered sincerely.

"Listen, Ric." Stefan said suddenly, raising his head. "I appreciate you coming all this way—thanks, really, I wouldn't have got the stake out otherwise, but I've got everything handled now." He'd bury Ivy in the morning and then, just... disappear after that, but maybe not before he killed Enzo first.

"Oh, I see. You got this." Alaric nodded. "You spine's all healed and you don't need help burying your friend and clean up. I guess I'll catch you later, buddy, or not, I guess." He clapped Stefan on the shoulders and left the injured vampire stranded on the floor. "Ah," he paused in the doorway and turned back, "Open or closed? Closed, right, wouldn't want anyone just walking in on this little murder scene." The door clicked shut.

Stefan stared at the door a little stunned at the abrupt abandonment after the effort Alaric had gone to just to check on him. There was no relief like he'd thought there would be, just... resignation. He abandoned them, after all, why wouldn't he get what he sowed?

He let out a bark of laughter that was maybe a little hysterical, a little broken, but definitely pitying. He looked down at Ivy, "Guess you were right." He was gearing towards dragging himself to the fridge for blood when the door opened and Alaric stepped back inside.

Alaric regarded him. "You really thought I would just leave?"

"Why would you stay?" Stefan muttered before he could stop himself. His shoulders tensed.

"Where's the bathroom?"

"Oh. Right." Stefan scoffed at himself. "Upstairs." He pointed.

"Right." Alaric's shadow fell over him. "Come on, then."

"What?" Stefan in a second of confusion before realization dawned. "Yeah, that's not gonna happen, Ric-"

Alaric gave him a look. "Oh, it's happening." Stefan groaned half in pain and half in humiliation. "Stop acting like a baby and maybe I wouldn't have to pick you up like one."

"Now I wish Enzo had actually killed me," he muttered under his breath as they made their way upstairs.

"Too bad." Alaric left him on the edge of the tub to go in search of blood.

Even though Stefan hadn't fed yet, in the short time lapse without the stake to hinder the healing process, though he couldn't move his legs yet, he was getting feeling back in the form of sharp pins and needles as his nerves knit back together.

Stefan stripped off his ruined shirt and lowered himself back into the tub with a grunt. He turned on the showerhead and pulled his legs in after him, not caring about his jeans. He slumped forward, let the steaming water wash over him, hissed as it ran over his back wound.

That's how Alaric found him. "Stefan, you really aren't looking too good. You should be drinking human blood—especially after an injury like this one." But he handed over the bottle of animal blood he found in the fridge over anyway. Stefan said nothing in return. Alaric sighed and sank onto the closed toilet seat. "Stefan, talk to me." He practically begged.

"Not a good idea. Enzo might think we're sleeping together and kill you."

"What does Enzo care who you sleep with?" Alaric could understand why he would think it, though. A feminine touch was everywhere—right down to the delicates hung from the curtain rod.

"He doesn't, not really. He cares if I move on, if I find an ounce of relief—so he can continue Damon's legacy of an eternity of misery."

"And Caroline?" Alaric wondered softly.

"I'm not anyone's problem anymore, Caroline made that pretty clear."

"And Caroline has no right to speak for anybody but herself." Alaric said firmly and with anger. "And Enzo, he still thinks he's dealing with 1950's Damon, when you and I both know that that's not who Damon is now."

Stefan bit his tongue to keep from saying '_was'_ in correction. He pursed his lips tightly against the well of emotion, the wail of, he didn't quite know. Grief, guilt, loneliness, anger. Instead—he talked.

"My emotions are too unstable right now. The human blood just makes me want to go for necks and if I go Ripper, I'll turn it off. Don't you get it? I _can't _turn it off. If I do, I'll lose whatever of Damon I have left. Sure, I'll still have the memories but they'll be devoid of all the things that made them mean something, made them important. There'll be nothing left of him and I'll have lost him for good."

Alaric watched as Stefan twisted the cap off and shielded from the spray, took a big gulp. The swallow was hard going down. He pressed the back of his hand against his mouth as his stomach rebelled and he gagged. It was always harder going down the second time.

Alaric noted wryly, "Doesn't look like that blood's doing you any favours either."

"We all have our cross to bear." He proceeded to finish the bottle; it always got easier as he went. It was the process.

"And it looks to me like you're not as done as you thought you were." Alaric told him. "If you can't give up your memories of him, what makes you think you can give up on the man himself?" Stefan hummed in acknowledgement. "Stefan, what the hell happened?"

"Reality."

"Well, the reality from where I'm sitting is... things are falling apart back at Whitmore, okay? You think you haven't been handling this, that you're the only one clinging on by a thread? I just found out that Elena's turned into a junkie. She's been threatening Luke for these ancient psychotropic herbs that let her hallucinate Damon; she's erratic, Ripper-thirsty, and feeding on people at the boarder." I sighed. "I know I failed you, Stefan. But help me not fail them. Please? I need your help, I can't do it on my own, neither can you, but maybe we can dig ourselves out of this grave together.

"Come back to Whitmore with me." He said softly. "I have a sneaking suspicion that maybe the answer is a lot closer to home than we think."

Alaric watched Stefan in the long silence that followed, eyes closed and head tilted back into the spray. He hugged his knees to his chest, and wiggled his toes in the shallow water, jeans long soaked through. The corner of his mouth quirked briefly. He let himself fall back into the tub and reached up to turn off the shower tap, before letting his hand drop back to his bare chest.

"Okay, Ric. I'll come back with you."

_f_

_**~ The Vampire Diaries ~**_


End file.
